Affordable housing in Dubai Gains More Support

DUBAI, UAE - April 25, 2014 - PRLog -- In fact the Dubai 2020 Urban Master Plan gives considerable space to the concept of affordability by dovetailed it into the integrated land use where provision for housing and community facilities in all sectors is envisaged.

So, Dubai of future will see man-made islands, skyscrapers and multiple driving the growth in terms of sustainable and competitive urban development projects.

Government Intervention

The recent Urban Agenda 2020 Conference saw the government reiterating its support to major developers in taking up big projects in line with the global image of Dubai as an international city. At the same hints were evident that government will have to interfere if the developers have only focus on high-end projects and no concern for a vast section of the population who will suffer because of the absence of affordable housing. This perspective echoed in the words Abdullah Raffia who is the head of the emirate’s Sustainable Committee at the conference.

New projects of the government such as ‘Desert Rose City’ and Dubai Smart Sustainable City are such projects to address the issue of affordability in housing. These self-reliant residential cities for Emiratis will help people to live and work nearby. Many developers are ready to take the plunge in affordable housing and are looking for land.

Pressure on Renters

In Ajman, far off from Dubai the non-occupancy levels are falling fast from the 50 percent in the past to somewhere in the 12-15 percent range. Many landlords are also considerate that hiking rentals when salaries are not rising will be counter-productive.

As per the latest statistics only 13.5 per cent of Dubai city’s population lives in freehold areas whereas one in every 7 transactions are mortgage based. Also the rising rents are driving a larger percentage of budget tenants to look beyond city limits for accommodation especially in Sharjah and Ajman.

The silver lining is that Dubai has set in motion a number of housing schemes for its national population via the Mohammad Bin Rashid scheme allowing a wider base of the population to participate in the city’s housing boom. Given Dubai’s dependence on the expatriate population for its growth, signals of a proactive policy for middle-class housing is being welcomed by all.

Read more here: http://www.is-re.com/blog/spiralling-rent-and-property-pr...